


Whenever You Are

by WrathoftheStag



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Movies)
Genre: Ficlet, Friendship, Gen, Introspection, Missed Connections, thinking of possibilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-04 03:38:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20464397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrathoftheStag/pseuds/WrathoftheStag
Summary: The thing was, he could read about her, but she could only wonder about him…Jean-Luc Picard and Lily Sloane both think of one another and hope each one had a good life.  A tiny ficlet about introspection and friendship.





	Whenever You Are

The thing was, he could read about her, but she could only wonder about him…

There were countless nights where Lily wondered what Picard would be doing right about now—or rather hundreds of years from now. The things he had yet to experience, to know. Hell, he hadn’t even been born yet.

Centuries from now, would he remember her fondly? Her mind reeled sometimes trying to make sense of it all.

She once did a genealogical search on a Picard family in LaBarre, France. They owned several vineyards that had been ravaged by the war and had been rebuilt again. Was this part of Jean-Luc’s family? She could only speculate.

He could read about her life, about her accomplishments, but she could only wonder about him as the two never to cross paths again. Would he read about her and smile? What would he think about the road her travels took? She was proud of her life, damn proud. And could only hope his life would be a good one for the most part, where—and _whenever_—he was.

And so, time flew on, and Lily worked with Zephram to further humanity and boldly go where no one had gone before.

**+++**

The thing was, he could read about her but could never reach out ever again…

Picard never forgot the person who, probably quicker than anyone else ever had, had recognized his pain, the one who called him out when no one else dared to. He never forgot Lily Sloane and wondered if she thought of him from time to time. 

The Phoenix national monument, in Montana, had a large section of its museum dedicated to Lily. _A member of the Zefram Cochrane engineering team that constructed the first warp drive in 2063._ Her face, etched in stone. Smiling proud. Smiling strong.

She soon proved she was so much more that he could have ever imagined. Picard read everything he could about Lily—all of her accomplishments, her awards, and achievements. When he first read her complete works at the Starfleet Academy archives, he could only help but smile. She wrote about her work with Vulcans, and her role in humanity's early years in space. She was fearless, and Picard admired her fiercely.

In her seminal paper, “Investigating Physics of Nanosecond-Pulsed Argon Plasma Discharges for a VLF Plasma Antenna,” Picard smiled when he saw that Lily had thanked her family, and her friend J-L “_whenever_ he was.” Most people had assumed it was a typo, but he knew better.

This was the closest the two had come to any communication. Picard was happy in the knowledge that Lily Sloane lived the best life she could, doing what she loved, living courageously. He only hoped he could do the same.

He sipped on his earl grey and softly smiled as he watched the stars zoom by outside his ready room.

**Author's Note:**

> I just rewatched _ST: First Contact_ and really love Lily and it occurred to me that, aw, they were friends and could never see each other again---but there was an opportunity for one-way contact, sort of.


End file.
